Only a new voters' register can make the 2020 elections credible - EC reiterates
- The EC says it will go ahead with the compilation of a new voters' register once the COVID-19 numbers reduce and the health experts give the go-ahead
- Some parts of Ghana is on a partial lockdown following the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country
- Ghana will hold its presidential and parliamentary election on December 7, 2020
- Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in
The Director of Electoral Services at the Electoral Commission, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe, says the electoral body is only waiting for direction to go ahead with the compilation of the new voters' register.
He opined that the body is waiting for the lockdown to be lifted and the COVID-19 to subside.
According to him, the Electoral Commission has to definitely put together a new register for the December 2020 polls.
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“Are we thinking of not having election 2020, anybody in the Electoral Commission, knowing the resources that we have, knowing the situation of the registers, will go for a new credible register… We are waiting for the lockdown and coronavirus to subside,” Dr. Quaicoe said on Joy News on Thursday, April 16, 2020.
Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections which is supposed to come off in December is currently in limbo as a lot of events on the political calendar in the country have been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic Ghana is experiencing.
President Nana Akufo-Addo announced a three-week lockdown in Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Kasoa.
Also, the country’s borders have all been closed, all are part of measures to reduce or prevent the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.
The EC had originally fixed April 18, 2020, for the commencement of the compilation of a new voters' register but has been suspended indefinitely because of the pandemic.
READ ALSO: COVID-19: What you missed in the news on Thursday, April 16, 2020
Ghana has recorded 641 cases of the coronavirus as of April 15, 2020, with 83 recoveries and 8 deaths so far.
Meanwhile, the biggest opposition party in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), is vehemently opposing the EC’s decision to compile a new register ahead of the December polls.
YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the U.S. securities regulator has charged a former banker at Goldman Sachs over a bribery scheme facilitating bribery payments to Ghana government officials.
The former banker, Asante Berko, who happens to be the boss of the Tema Oil Refinery is accused of passing millions of dollars in bribes to Ghanaian officials to curry favour for his clients’ plans to build an electrical power plant, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged on Monday, April 13, 2020.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
